CISSP Exam Format | CISSP Course Contents | CISSP Course Outline | CISSP Exam Syllabus | CISSP Exam Objectives

The Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) is the most globally recognized certification

in the information security market. CISSP validates an information security professionals deep technical

and managerial knowledge and experience to effectively design, engineer, and manage the overall security posture of an organization.

The broad spectrum of topics included in the CISSP Common Body of Knowledge (CBK) ensure its relevancy
across all disciplines in the field of information security. Successful candidates are competent in the following
8 domains:

• Security and Risk Management

• Asset Security

• Security Architecture and Engineering

• Communication and Network Security

• Identity and Access Management (IAM)

• Security Assessment and Testing

• Security Operations

• Software Development Security



Length of exam : 3 hours

Number of questions : 100 - 150

Question format : Multiple choice and advanced innovative questions

Passing grade : 700 out of 1000 points

Exam language availability : English

Testing center : (ISC)2 Authorized PPC and PVTC Select Pearson VUE Testing Centers



CISSP CAT Examination Weights



1. Security and Risk Management 15%

2. Asset Security 10%

3. Security Architecture and Engineering 13%

4. Communication and Network Security 14%

5. Identity and Access Management (IAM) 13%

6. Security Assessment and Testing 12%

7. Security Operations 13%

8. Software Development Security 10%



Domain 1:

Security and Risk Management

1.1 Understand and apply concepts of confidentiality, integrity and availability

1.2 Evaluate and apply security governance principles

» Alignment of security function to business

» Security control frameworks strategy, goals, mission, and objectives

» Due care/due diligence

» Organizational processes (e.g., acquisitions, divestitures, governance committees)

» Organizational roles and responsibilities

1.3 Determine compliance requirements

» Contractual, legal, industry standards, and regulatory requirements

» Privacy requirements

1.4 Understand legal and regulatory issues that pertain to information security in a global context

» Cyber crimes and data breaches » Trans-border data flow

» Licensing and intellectual property requirements » Privacy

» Import/export controls

1.5 Understand, adhere to, and promote professional ethics

» (ISC)² Code of Professional Ethics

» Organizational code of ethics

1.6 Develop, document, and implement security policy, standards, procedures, and guidelines

1.7 Identify, analyze, and prioritize Business Continuity (BC) requirements

» Develop and document scope and plan

» Business Impact Analysis (BIA)

1.8 Contribute to and enforce personnel security policies and procedures

» Candidate screening and hiring

» Compliance policy requirements

» Employment agreements and policies

» Privacy policy requirements

» Onboarding and termination processes

» Vendor, consultant, and contractor agreements and controls

1.9 Understand and apply risk management concepts

» Identify threats and vulnerabilities

» Security Control Assessment (SCA)

» Risk assessment/analysis

» Monitoring and measurement

» Risk response

» Asset valuation

» Countermeasure selection and implementation

» Reporting

» Applicable types of controls (e.g., preventive, detective, corrective)

» Risk frameworks

» Continuous improvement

1.10 Understand and apply threat modeling concepts and methodologies

» Threat modeling methodologies » Threat modeling concepts

1.11 Apply risk-based management concepts to the supply chain

» Risks associated with hardware, software, and

» Service-level requirements services

» Third-party assessment and monitoring

» Minimum security requirements

1.12 Establish and maintain a security awareness, education, and training program

» Methods and techniques to present awareness and training

» Periodic content reviews

» Program effectiveness evaluation



Domain 2:

Asset Security

2.1 Identify and classify information and assets

» Data classification

» Asset Classification

2.2 Determine and maintain information and asset ownership

2.3 Protect privacy

» Data owners

» Data remanence

» Data processers

» Collection limitation

2.4 Ensure appropriate asset retention

2.5 Determine data security controls

» Understand data states

» Standards selection

» Scoping and tailoring

» Data protection methods

2.6 Establish information and asset handling requirements



Domain 3:

Security Architecture and Engineering

3.1 Implement and manage engineering processes using secure design principles

3.2 Understand the fundamental concepts of security models

3.3 Select controls based upon systems security requirements

3.4 Understand security capabilities of information systems (e.g., memory protection, Trusted Platform Module (TPM), encryption/decryption)

3.5 Assess and mitigate the vulnerabilities of security architectures, designs, and solution elements

» Client-based systems

» Industrial Control Systems (ICS)

» Server-based systems

» Cloud-based systems

» Database systems

» Distributed systems

» Cryptographic systems

» Internet of Things (IoT)

3.6 Assess and mitigate vulnerabilities in web-based systems

3.7 Assess and mitigate vulnerabilities in mobile systems

3.8 Assess and mitigate vulnerabilities in embedded devices

3.9 Apply cryptography

» Cryptographic life cycle (e.g., key management, algorithm selection)

» Digital signatures

» Non-repudiation

» Cryptographic methods (e.g., symmetric, asymmetric, elliptic curves) » Understand methods of cryptanalytic attacks

» Integrity (e.g., hashing)

» Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)

» Digital Rights Management (DRM)

» Key management practices

3.10 Apply security principles to site and facility design

3.11 Implement site and facility security controls

» Wiring closets/intermediate distribution facilities Server rooms/data centers Media storage facilities Evidence storage Utilities and Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Environmental issues Fire prevention, detection, and suppression

» Restricted and work area security



Domain 4:

Communication and Network Security

4.1 Implement secure design principles in network architectures

» Open System Interconnection (OSI) and Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) models

» Internet Protocol (IP) networking

» Implications of multilayer protocols

4.2 Secure network components

» Operation of hardware

» Transmission media

» Network Access Control (NAC) devices

» Converged protocols

» Software-defined networks

» Wireless networks

» Endpoint security

» Content-distribution networks

4.3 Implement secure communication channels according to design

» Voice

» Multimedia collaboration

» Remote access

» Data communications

» Virtualized networks



Domain 5:

Identity and Access Management (IAM)

5.1 Control physical and logical access to assets

» Information

» Systems

» Devices

» Facilities

5.2 Manage identification and authentication of people, devices, and services

» Identity management implementation

» Registration and proofing of identity

» Single/multi-factor authentication

» Federated Identity Management (FIM)

» Accountability

» Credential management systems

» Session management

5.3 Integrate identity as a third-party service

» On-premise

» Cloud

» Federated

5.4 Implement and manage authorization mechanisms

» Role Based Access Control (RBAC)

» Discretionary Access Control (DAC)

» Rule-based access control

» Attribute Based Access Control (ABAC)

» Mandatory Access Control (MAC)

5.5 Manage the identity and access provisioning lifecycle

» User access review

» System account access review

» Provisioning and deprovisioning



Domain 6:

Security Assessment and Testing

6.1 Design and validate assessment, test, and audit strategies

» Internal

» External

» Third-party

6.2 Conduct security control testing

» Vulnerability assessment

» Penetration testing

» Log reviews

» Synthetic transactions

» Code review and testing

» Misuse case testing

» Test coverage analysis

» Interface testing

6.3 Collect security process data (e.g., technical and administrative)

» Account management

» Management review and approval

» Key performance and risk indicators

» Backup verification data

6.4 Analyze test output and generate report

6.5 Conduct or facilitate security audits

» Internal

» External

» Third-party

» Training and awareness

» Disaster Recovery (DR) and Business Continuity (BC)



Domain 7:

Security Operations

7.1 Understand and support investigations

» Evidence collection and handling

» Investigative techniques

» Reporting and documentation

» Digital forensics tools, tactics, and procedures

7.2 Understand requirements for investigation types

» Administrative

» Criminal

» Civil

7.3 Conduct logging and monitoring activities

» Intrusion detection and prevention

» Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

7.4 Securely provisioning resources

» Asset inventory

» Asset management

» Configuration management

» Regulatory » Industry standards

» Continuous monitoring » Egress monitoring

7.5 Understand and apply foundational security operations concepts

» Need-to-know/least privileges

» Separation of duties and responsibilities

» Privileged account management

7.6 Apply resource protection techniques

» Media management

» Hardware and software asset management

» Job rotation

» Information lifecycle

» Service Level Agreements (SLA)

7.7 Conduct incident management

» Detection » Recovery

» Response » Remediation

» Mitigation » Lessons learned

» Reporting

7.8 Operate and maintain detective and preventative measures

» Firewalls

» Sandboxing

» Intrusion detection and prevention systems

» Honeypots/honeynets

» Whitelisting/blacklisting

» Anti-malware

» Third-party provided security services

7.9 Implement and support patch and vulnerability management

7.10 Understand and participate in change management processes

7.11 Implement recovery strategies

» Backup storage strategies

» System resilience, high availability, Quality of Service (QoS), and fault tolerance

» Recovery site strategies

» Multiple processing sites

7.12 Implement Disaster Recovery (DR) processes

» Response

» Assessment

» Personnel

» Restoration

» Communications

» Training and awareness

7.13 Test Disaster Recovery Plans (DRP)

» Read-through/tabletop

» Parallel

» Walkthrough

» Full interruption

» Simulation

7.14 Participate in Business Continuity (BC) planning and exercises

7.15 Implement and manage physical security

» Perimeter security controls

» Internal security controls

7.16 Address personnel safety and security concerns

» Travel

» Emergency management

» Security training and awareness

» Duress



Domain 8:

Software Development Security

8.1 Understand and integrate security in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

» Development methodologies

» Change management

» Maturity models

» Integrated product team

» Operation and maintenance

8.2 Identify and apply security controls in development environments

» Security of the software environments

» Configuration management as an aspect of secure coding

» Security of code repositories

8.3 Assess the effectiveness of software security

» Auditing and logging of changes

» Risk analysis and mitigation

8.4 Assess security impact of acquired software

8.5 Define and apply secure coding guidelines and standards

» Security weaknesses and vulnerabilities at the source-code level

» Security of application programming interfaces

» Secure coding practices